Amidst all the Mac OS X 10.7 Lion/brand-new-MacBook Air-with-Thunderbolt-and-Sandy-Bridge hubbub, Apple also released Safari 5.1, an update to its web browser. The new version, a 47.5 megabyte download, includes the following fixes and new features:

- Reading List: Easily add webpages and links to your Reading List to browse when you have time.

- New Process Architecture: Safari has been re-engineered for improved stability and responsiveness.

- Resume: In the General pane of Safari preferences, you can now choose to launch Safari with the windows from your last browsing session.

- Better Privacy: A new Privacy pane in Safari preferences makes it easy to remove data that websites can leave on your system.

Other improvements include:
- Private AutoFill: Safari lets you fill out forms quickly while keeping your personal information private.

- Find Option: When you use Find, you can choose whether you want to search for text that contains or starts with the text that you type in the search field.

- Drag-and-drop Downloads: You can drag items out of the Downloads window in Safari, so you can easily place downloaded files on the Desktop.

- Advanced Web Technologies: Safari introduces support for full-screen webpages, media caching with the HTML5 application cache, MathML, Web Open Font Format, CSS3 Auto-hyphenation, CSS3 Vertical Text, CSS3 Text Emphasis, Window.onError, and Formatted XML files.

- New Extension APIs: Developers can take advantage of new Safari Extension support for popovers, menus, new event classes, and interaction with Reader.

Safari 5.1 is available on Mac OS X via Software Update or via direct download from Apple and requires Mac OS X 10.6.8 or later to install and run.

Late Tuesday, Mozilla.org released version 5.0.1 of its Firefox web browser. The new version stands as an 27.8 megabyte download offered the following fixes and changes:

- Worked around an issue in Mac OS X 10.7 that could cause Firefox to crash.

- Worked around an issue caused by Apple’s “Java for Mac OS X 10.6 Update 5″ where the Java plugin would not be loaded.

Firefox 5.0.1 requires an Intel-based Mac and Mac OS X 10.5 or later to install and run.

If you’ve tried the new version and have any feedback, let us know.

Late Tuesday, Mozilla.org released version 5.0 of its Firefox web browser. The new version stands as an 27.8 megabyte download offered the following fixes and changes:

- Added support for CSS animations.

- The Do-Not-Track header preference has been moved to increase discoverability.

- Tuned HTTP idle connection logic for increased performance.

- Improved canvas, JavaScript, memory, and networking performance.

- Improved standards support for HTML5, XHR, MathML, SMIL, and canvas.

- Improved spell checking for some locales.

- Improved desktop environment integration for Linux users.

- WebGL content can no longer load cross-domain textures.

- Background tabs have setTimeout and setInterval clamped to 1000ms to improve performance.

- Fixed several stability issues.

- Fixed several security issues.

Firefox 5.0 requires an Intel-based Mac and Mac OS X 10.5 or later to install and run.

If you’ve tried the new version and have any feedback, let us know.

Google Chrome, Google’s new web browser, just reached version 12.0.742.60 for the Mac. The new version, a 36.2 megabyte download, offers the following the following changes:

- Contains a number of UI tweaks and performance fixes.

Google Chrome 12.0.742.60 requires an Intel-based Mac running Mac OS X 10.5 or later to install and run.

Late Tuesday, Mozilla.org released version 4.0.1 of its Firefox web browser. The new version stands as an 26.8 megabyte download offered the following fixes and changes:

- Fixed several security issues.

- Fixed several stability issues.

Firefox 4.0 requires an Intel-based Mad and Mac OS X 10.5 or later to install and run.

If you’ve tried the new version and have any feedback, let us know.

Yes, you were freaking out with joy as Apple released its iOS 4.3 updates yesterday.

And then you celebrated by arranging for your siamese cat to legally marry your basset hound, despite the confused expressions on their faces.

Amidst all this, Apple released Safari 5.0.4, an update to its web browser with the following fixes and new features:

- Improved stability for webpages with multiple instances of plug-in content.

- Improved compatibility with webpages with image reflections and transition effects.

- A fix for an issue that could cause some webpages to print with incorrect layouts.

- A fix for an issue that could cause content to display incorrectly on webpages with plug-ins.

- A fix for an issue that could cause a Screen Saver to appear while video is playing in Safari.

- Improved compatibility with VoiceOver on webpages with text input areas and lists with selectable items.

- Improved stability when using VoiceOver.

Safari 5.0.4 is available on Mac OS X via Software Update or via direct download from Apple and requires Mac OS X 10.6.4 or later to install and run.

Late Wednesday, Mozilla.org released version 3.6.14 of its Firefox web browser. The new version stands as an 18.7 megabyte download offered the following fixes and changes:

- Several fixes to improve performance, stability and security.

Firefox 3.6.14 is available in more than 70 different languages and requires a G3, G4, G5 or Intel-based Mac, Mac OS X 10.4 or later and 128MB of RAM to install and run.

Google Chrome, Google’s new web browser, just reached version 9.0.597.84 for the Mac. The new version, an 32.2 megabyte download, offers the following the following changes:

- WebGL is a new technology which brings hardware-accelerated 3D graphics to the browser. With WebGL in Chrome, you can experience rich 3D experiences right inside the browser with no need for additional software.

- With Chrome Instant (à la Google Instant), web pages that you frequently visit will begin loading as soon as you start typing the URL. (“Look, Mom – no enter key!”). If supported by your default search engine, search results appear instantly as you type queries in the omnibox.

- Lastly, the Chrome Web Store is now open to all Chrome users in the United States. As part of this, we’ve now added a link to the Chrome Web Store on the New Tab page, along with two sample apps. (If you don’t use these sample apps, they will automatically disappear after some time).

Google Chrome requires Mac OS X 10.5 or later and an Intel-based Mac to install and run.

If you’ve played with it and have an opinion, let us know what you think in the comments.

Late Wednesday, Mozilla.org released version 3.6.13 of its Firefox web browser. The new version stands as an 18.7 megabyte download offered the following fixes and changes:

- Patched 13 security bugs, 11 of these being rated “critical”.

- Aaddressed browser engine memory bugs, buffer and integer overflows, and a location bar SSL spoofing flaw.

- The update also fixed nearly 70 non-security flaws, including several stability bugs that Mozilla tracked through user-submitted crash reports.

Firefox 3.6.13 is available in more than 70 different languages and requires a G3, G4, G5 or Intel-based Mac, Mac OS X 10.4 or later and 128MB of RAM to install and run.

Apple on Thursday released versions 4.1.3 and 5.0.3, respectively, for Windows, Mac OS X Tiger, Mac OS X Leopard and Snow Leopard operating systems.

Safari 5.0.3 is available direct from Apple for Mac OS X 10.5.8 or later and Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7. Tiger users must be running Mac oS X 10.4.11 for Safari 4.1.2.

For both Mac and Windows users, the update fixes an issue that could prevent users from submitting web forms. It also establishes an encrypted, authenticated connection to the Safari Extensions Gallery.

The latest version of Safari 5 for Mac also fixes an issue that could cause Web content to display incorrectly when viewing a Google Image result with Flash 10.1 installed.

Other fixes and changes include the following:
- More accurate Top Hit results in the Address Field

- More accurate results in Top Sites

- More reliable pop-up blocking

- Improved stability when typing into search and text input fields on www.netflix.com and www.facebook.com

- Improved stability when using JavaScript-intensive extensions

- Improved stability when using VoiceOver with Safari

The updates, as usual, can be snagged and installed via Mac OS X’s Software Update utility. If you’ve tried the new versions and have any feedback to offer, please let us know.